Pittsburghhttp://www.usahockeymagazine.com/taxonomy/term/1106/all
enFrom The Ground Up: Robert Morris University's risehttp://www.usahockeymagazine.com/article/2013-06/ground-robert-morris-universitys-rise
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Pittsburgh’s Only Div. I Hockey Program Making Slow But Steady Progress To The Top </div>
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By:&nbsp;</div>
<a href="/node/12">Harry Thompson</a> </div>
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<p><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/sites/default/files/images/Iceburg_header_1.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image-_original " width="525" height="79" /></span></p>
<p><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/sites/default/files/images/RobertMorris1.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image-_original " width="525" height="396" /></span></p>
<p>Then Derek Schooley arrived at Robert Morris University there was little doubt that he had his work cut out for him if he was going to build a hockey program from scratch.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I came in my first day and all I had was a desk. There was no computer and no phone,&rdquo; Schooley recalled. &ldquo;We had to literally build a program from the desk on up.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Almost a decade later, and Schooley is well on his way to building a powerhouse program on the banks of the Ohio River. It&rsquo;s also no surprise that the program&rsquo;s success mirrors what is happening at all levels of the game in the Steel City.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a lot of work, and we couldn&rsquo;t do it without dedicated people who really believed in a vision, and this vision is really starting to take off over the last couple of years,&rdquo; said Schooley, who was tabbed to be the architect of the Robert Morris hockey program after four years at the U.S. Air Force Academy.</p>
<p>Depending on your level of patience, the program appears to be ahead of schedule in its march to national prominence. Over the past three seasons the Colonials have won 18, 17 and 20 games while competing in the Atlantic Hockey Association.</p>
<p>Much of that success has come, oddly enough, during the team&rsquo;s non-conference schedule, with victories over Ohio State, Penn State, Miami University and Quinnipiac, the eventual national runner-up.</p>
<p><strong><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/sites/default/files/images/RobertMorris2.jpg" alt="Under the direction of head coach Derek Schooley, Robert Morris University has scored several notable victories, including knocking off then-No. 1 Miami." title="Under the direction of head coach Derek Schooley, Robert Morris University has scored several notable victories, including knocking off then-No. 1 Miami." class="image image-_original " width="525" height="346" /><span class="caption" style="width: 523px;">Under the direction of head coach Derek Schooley, Robert Morris University has scored several notable victories, including knocking off then-No. 1 Miami.</span></span></strong></p>
<p>&ldquo;We were 17th in the Pairwise Rankings, which is just one spot out of the NCAA tournament,&rdquo; Schooley said. &ldquo;So it shows how we have become a player in college hockey that has gotten better every year and has the ability to beat some good teams.&rdquo;</p>
<p>One of the keys for the future, Schooley said, is to expand that talent pool of players who view Robert Morris as a viable option for talented recruits. That&rsquo;s where hosting the 2013 Toyota-USA Hockey Tier I National Championships at the Island Sports Center helped raise the profile of the school among some of the top American teenagers.</p>
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<h2 class="textlinkblack" style="text-align: center;">&ldquo;I came in my first day and all I had was a desk.&rdquo;<br />&mdash; Derek Schooley<br /></h2>
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<p>It also gave Schooley and his assistant coaches a front row seat to some of the nation&rsquo;s best young talent while showing off the school, hockey facilities and the city of Pittsburgh, while adhering to the NCAA&rsquo;s strict recruiting rules.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s great for us to have players in our building and to be able to see Robert Morris University, our program and also the city of Pittsburgh,&rdquo; Schooley said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a beautiful area, and it&rsquo;s a big part of our recruiting pitch. It&rsquo;s a great hockey city and is really starting to take off.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Adding to the level of exposure, Robert Morris played host to the 2013 Frozen Four, positioning both the school and the city as major players in the college hockey community.</p>
<p>&nbsp;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really proud of our success, and I&rsquo;m really proud of where our program has come from,&rdquo; Schooley said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;But there&rsquo;s still a long way to go and a lot more that we need to accomplish.&rdquo;</p>
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<h5><em>Photos Courtesy of Robert Morris University</em><br /></h5>
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Issue:&nbsp;</div>
<a href="/issue/2013-06">2013-06</a> </div>
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http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/article/2013-06/ground-robert-morris-universitys-rise#commentsPittsburghRobert Morris UniversityFeatureThu, 23 May 2013 16:32:40 +0000admin8684 at http://www.usahockeymagazine.comThe Meek Shall Inherit The Ice: Small colleges making it to the NCAA Frozen Fourhttp://www.usahockeymagazine.com/article/2013-06/meek-shall-inherit-ice-small-colleges-making-it-ncaa-frozen-four
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Parity Keeps Crashing College Hockey’s Biggest Party As Small Schools Make Big Waves At The Frozen Four </div>
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By:&nbsp;</div>
<a href="/node/37">Jess Myers</a> </div>
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<p><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/sites/default/files/images/Iceburg_header_1.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image-_original " width="525" height="79" /></span><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/sites/default/files/images/Meek_FrozenFour1.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image-_original " width="525" height="415" /></span></p>
<p>The NCAA Frozen Four is a gathering where childhood dreams come true on an annual basis. When the nation&rsquo;s top quartet of college hockey teams hook up at a neutral site, only one gets to go home with a shiny gold trophy.</p>
<p>Going back to the 1950s, when college hockey was a relatively new thing, the &ldquo;usual suspects&rdquo; like powerhouses Michigan, Boston College, Denver and North Dakota have dominated the game. But every now and then, a smaller school &ndash; one of those institutions of higher learning that doesn&rsquo;t have a football or basketball team playing on national TV every weekend &ndash; would crash the party.</p>
<p>Tiny Colorado College, with fewer than 2,000 students, won a pair of titles in the 1950s. Michigan Tech, known as much for its geographic isolation as for its renowned engineering school, beat Boston College and Minnesota to claim two of the Huskies&rsquo; three national titles. RPI, another renowned engineering school of limited enrollment, won a title in the 1950s and another in the &rsquo;80s.</p>
<p>When Lake Superior State beat St. Lawrence in the 1988 title game, the combined enrollment of both schools would&rsquo;ve filled less than five percent of Michigan&rsquo;s football stadium. The Lakers would go on to win two more titles in the 1990s, but then head coach Jeff Jackson&rsquo;s teams would be the last of the &ldquo;small miracles&rdquo; for more than a decade.</p>
<p>From 1995 until the end of the 2000s, the Frozen Four was all but the exclusive property of the &ldquo;big&rdquo; schools, as Boston University, Michigan, North Dakota, Maine, Minnesota, Denver, Wisconsin and Michigan State claimed every Frozen Four crown for more than 15 years.</p>
<p>It wasn&rsquo;t until 2009 that tiny Bemidji State made a notable splash in the college hockey world, upsetting Notre Dame and Cornell to reach the Frozen Four in Washington, D.C. While the Beavers did not advance to the title game, they may have provided a roadmap for smaller schools to compete, and beat, the &ldquo;big boys&rdquo; on the national stage.</p>
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<p>A year later it was Rochester Institute of Technology playing the underdog role, beating Denver and New Hampshire, and advancing to the Frozen Four in Detroit. In 2011, Minnesota Duluth ended the &ldquo;big school champs&rdquo; trend, beating Michigan in overtime for the Bulldogs&rsquo; first NCAA title. A year later in Tampa it was another set of Bulldogs &ndash; the ones from Ferris State &ndash; taking their underdog act all the way to the national title game, where they fell to Boston College.</p>
<p>This spring it was a &ldquo;hockey first&rdquo; party in downtown Pittsburgh with a quartet of non-traditional powers competing for their first national title. St. Cloud State, UMass Lowell and Quinnipiac had never before advanced that far. Yale had been to the Frozen Four just once, in 1952, and eventually prevailed by shutting out Quinnipiac in the title game.</p>
<p>Is it a fad, or indicative of the new world of college hockey that so many of these smaller schools are seeing success on the national stage?</p>
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<h2 class="textlinkblack">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a product of the greater numbers and greater depth of players available nationwide.&rdquo;<br />&mdash; Keith Allain, Yale Coach<br /></h2>
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<p>&ldquo;I think the parity is here to stay,&rdquo; says RPI coach Seth Appert, who has experienced both large- and small-school hockey programs as a player at Ferris State and as an assistant coach at the University of Denver.</p>
<p>Time and again, Appert has seen younger players &ndash; those making college commitments when they&rsquo;re 15 or 16 &ndash; &ldquo;make decisions with their eyes&rdquo; and choose the flash of a high-profile school that they see on TV over the smaller school experience. By contrast, older and more mature players looking for a college hockey program tend to place greater weight on academics and life after hockey, and are more likely to stay in school for four years, which can be a huge on-ice advantage.</p>
<p>&ldquo;In college athletics, you win with your juniors and seniors,&rdquo; Appert says in reference to high-profile recruits that often bolt for pro hockey after one or two seasons. &ldquo;If your players don&rsquo;t get to be juniors and seniors, you don&rsquo;t get that boost.&rdquo;</p>
<p>When Lake Superior State won its three titles, Jackson was there, first as an assistant coach and then as the head man behind the bench for the &rsquo;92 and &rsquo;94 crowns. There he commonly recruited older players, and hit the jackpot with future American stars like Brian Rolston and Doug Weight. Now at Notre Dame, the recruits are generally younger, which presents challenges in getting them to commit, and sometimes getting them to keep their commitments.</p>
<p>In addition to seeing more senior-laden teams at smaller schools succeeding, Keith Allain, who coaxed that Frozen Four title out of Yale in April, says that schools the size of his also benefit from a crop of available players that is growing every year.</p>
<p><strong><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/sites/default/files/images/Meek_FrozenFour3.jpg" alt="As one college hockey coach put it, &#039;you win with juniors and seniors,&#039; which is exactly what Yale University did in capturing its first NCAA hockey title." title="As one college hockey coach put it, &#039;you win with juniors and seniors,&#039; which is exactly what Yale University did in capturing its first NCAA hockey title." class="image image-_original " width="525" height="367" /><span class="caption" style="width: 523px;">As one college hockey coach put it, 'you win with juniors and seniors,' which is exactly what Yale University did in capturing its first NCAA hockey title.</span></span></strong></p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a product of the greater numbers and greater depth of players available nationwide,&rdquo; Allain says. &ldquo;Here in New England the numbers are very good, with hockey growing around the country, especially in the non-traditional areas, there are just a lot more players to go around.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Don Lucia got his feet wet in the coaching ranks at a pair of small schools, Alaska and Colorado College, before taking the Minnesota job in 1999 and leading the Golden Gophers to a pair of NCAA titles. He feels there&rsquo;s a misperception that college hockey programs in the Big Ten or other &ldquo;BCS&rdquo; conferences have significantly more money than smaller schools, saying that the Gopher hockey program brings in significant resources via TV deals, ticket sales and merchandise, but the money goes to the athletic department, not necessarily to the team.</p>
<p>Like Allain, Lucia subscribes to the &ldquo;deeper pool&rdquo; theory, noting how many more players of college ability there are available now, and not just in the traditional states like Minnesota, Michigan, Massachusetts and New York.</p>
<p>&nbsp;So what does the future hold? With the Big Ten sponsoring hockey next season, and high-profile schools like Notre Dame and Connecticut headed to Hockey East, some envision a slow trend back toward dominance by the so-called &ldquo;monsters.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Others see young talent continuing to depart those schools early, while the lower-profile programs are able to field senior-laden teams that seem to have so much success every March and April.</p>
<p>Jackson, who has seen, done and won pretty much everything one can experience behind a hockey bench, has coined an apt description of the modern college hockey world, where conference alignments, traditional rivalries and the balance of power seems to be changing by the minute.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Consistent craziness,&rdquo; is how Jackson describes the new world of college hockey, which seems fitting.</p>
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<h5><em>Jess Myers covers the Minnesota Wild and college hockey for 1500ESPN.com. </em></h5>
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<h6><em>Photos By Larry Radloff<br /></em></h6>
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<a href="/issue/2013-06">2013-06</a> </div>
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http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/article/2013-06/meek-shall-inherit-ice-small-colleges-making-it-ncaa-frozen-four#commentsCollege HockeyNCAA Frozen FourPittsburghFeatureThu, 23 May 2013 15:47:46 +0000admin8681 at http://www.usahockeymagazine.comAhead of The Game: Pittsburgh's home to the UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Programhttp://www.usahockeymagazine.com/article/2013-06/ahead-game-pittsburghs-home-upmc-sports-medicine-concussion-program
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Pittsburgh Stands At The Forefront Of Concussion Research </div>
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By:&nbsp;</div>
<a href="/author/joe-sager">Joe Sager</a> </div>
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<p><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.net/sites/default/files/images/Iceburg_header_1.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image-_original " width="525" height="79" /></span></p>
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<p>Over the past 30 years Pittsburgh, has emerged as one of the country&rsquo;s top hockey cities.</p>
<p>With three Stanley Cups and superstars such as Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin calling Pittsburgh home, the Penguins have fueled the &rsquo;Burgh&rsquo;s hockey boom.</p>
<p>However, Pittsburgh has risen to the top of the list when it comes to brain injuries &ndash; specifically concussions. That&rsquo;s been both a curse and a blessing for the region.</p>
<p>A concussion suffered during the 2011 NHL Winter Classic and its ensuing symptoms kept Crosby off the ice for more than 10 months. However, he was fortunate to play in a city that is home to the UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program, one of the top such programs in the nation, treating more than 18,000 patients annually.</p>
<p>While concussions and brain injuries are nothing new, Crosby&rsquo;s injury catapulted it to the regional and national forefront. Other Penguins have missed time with concussions as well, including Marc-Andre Fleury, Kris Letang, James Neal and Malkin.</p>
<p>Penguins General Manager Ray Shero counts himself as one of many who have gained a greater awareness of such injuries, especially after one of his sons suffered a concussion in a youth hockey game.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen both sides &ndash; professionally and personally,&rdquo; Shero said. &ldquo;I hadn&rsquo;t gone through that as a parent, before. It&rsquo;s a difficult injury. When you&rsquo;re dealing with high school kids, you see how it impacts their daily life, schooling and social life. Sports are just one aspect, and a small aspect at that.</p>
<p><strong><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.net/sites/default/files/images/Concussion2.jpg" alt="Whether at the professional level with players like Sidney Crosby, top photo, or among youth hockey players, above, the UPMC is among the leaders in studying the causes and affects of concussions." title="Whether at the professional level with players like Sidney Crosby, top photo, or among youth hockey players, above, the UPMC is among the leaders in studying the causes and affects of concussions." class="image image-_original " width="525" height="339" /><span class="caption" style="width: 523px;">Whether at the professional level with players like Sidney Crosby, top photo, or among youth hockey players, above, the UPMC is among the leaders in studying the causes and affects of concussions.</span></span></strong></p>
<p>&ldquo;Through UPMC and Dr. Micky Collins [the director of the UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program], I have learned a lot about this injury over the last year," Shero added. "It&rsquo;s a manageable injury, but the more you can recognize the signs and diagnose it, the better off your recovery down the road.&rdquo;</p>
<p>While hockey has raised awareness of such injuries, Shero knows they aren&rsquo;t hockey or sport-specific.</p>
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<h2 class="textlinkblack" style="text-align: center;">It&rsquo;s a difficult injury. When you&rsquo;re dealing with high school kids, you see how it impacts their daily life, schooling and social life. Sports are just one aspect, and a small aspect at that.<br />&mdash; Ray Shero, Penguins General Manager</h2>
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<p>&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t have to be sports. It could occur in other accidents,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Whether it&rsquo;s a headache, nausea or an off-balance feeling, or having trouble studying or focusing &ndash; there are all kinds of signs that lead you to believe it&rsquo;s a head-related injury and you need to have it checked out right away.&rdquo;</p>
<p>According to the UPMC website, Collins helped Mark Lovell, the Concussion Program&rsquo;s founding director, to create ImPACT&trade; (Immediate Post-concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing), the first computerized assessment tool to evaluate a concussion&rsquo;s severity and more accurately determine when an injured athlete can safely return to play.</p>
<p>Today, ImPACT is the most widely used and scientifically accepted tool in the United States for comprehensive clinical concussion management.</p>
<p>The Penguins continue to help raise concussion awareness throughout the region. The Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation and UPMC Sports Medicine team up to offer free neurocognitive baseline testing to youth athletes in western Pennsylvania through the &ldquo;HEADS UP Pittsburgh&rdquo; program.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a tremendous program,&rdquo; Shero said. &ldquo;There has become such an awareness of concussions. Still, the educational process needs to continue. Parents, coaches or players &ndash; they need to notice what the signs might be so they can alert a coach or parent. The more awareness, the better off we&rsquo;ll be.&rdquo;</p>
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<h2>Taking To The Ice For Concussion Testing<br /></h2>
<p>The UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program took the first steps toward analyzing concussion trends among youth hockey players with a study sponsored by hockey equipment manufacturer Bauer.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The goal of the study was to assess the impact forces to the head and their effects in hockey players, ages 12-17, during games and practices,&rdquo; said Dr. Anthony Kontos, assistant research director with the UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program.</p>
<p>&ldquo;There hasn&rsquo;t been a study yet that has looked at the forces to the head of hockey players at these younger ages.&rdquo;</p>
<p>An accelerometer was attached to the helmets of a handful of Pittsburgh youth hockey players for the purpose of collecting data for the study. The sensor detects and measures impact levels and transmits them in real-time to a database using Bluetooth technology.</p>
<p>&nbsp;&ldquo;We recorded data in real time, and we&rsquo;ve <span class="inline inline-right"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.net/sites/default/files/images/Concussion4.img_assist_custom-280x157.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image-img_assist_custom-280x157 " width="279" height="157" /></span>begun looking at the level of forces to the head that were recorded and what the effects of those forces were,&rdquo; he said.</p>
<p>Kontos and Scott Dakan, research coordinator for the UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program, have begun looking at the preliminary data.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Right now, we are focused on the more substantial hits &mdash; those above 60g&rsquo;s,&rdquo; Kontos said. &ldquo;On average there is one additional hit above 60g&rsquo;s in games (4.2 per game) compared to practices (3.2 per practice).&rdquo;</p>
<p>Along with the head impact data, the players underwent ImPACT concussion testing at both the beginning and end of the season.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We tested all players at the end of the season regardless of whether they had a concussion to see if there are any effects associated with the hits they took along the way,&rdquo; Kontos said.</p>
<p>"We are now combining the data from the helmet accelerometers, together with the neurocognitive and symptom data from across the season to see if there were any changes related to the impact forces.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Sidney Crosby, who has become something of a poster boy for concussion awareness, is happy to see people at all levels of the game becoming more aware of such brain injuries.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I think the awareness is pretty big and it&rsquo;s useful to know about it,&rdquo; said one of the game&rsquo;s brightest stars. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not something you can really see, you just have to be aware of the symptoms, so the more you know, the better.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I think everyone is doing a good job just making sure they learn as much as they can about it.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br />&mdash; Joe Sager</p>
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<h5><em>Joe Sager is a freelance writer based out of Pittsburgh.</em></h5>
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<h6><em>Photos By Getty Images; TSS Photography; UPMC (2)<br /></em></h6>
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http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/article/2013-06/ahead-game-pittsburghs-home-upmc-sports-medicine-concussion-program#commentsConcussionPittsburghresearchFeatureThu, 23 May 2013 15:24:31 +0000admin8677 at http://www.usahockeymagazine.comSteel City Assembly Line: Pittsburgh's homegrown goalieshttp://www.usahockeymagazine.com/article/2013-06/steel-city-assembly-line-pittsburghs-homegrown-goalies
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What’s Behind The Propagation Of Pittsburgh’s Prolific Puck Stoppers? </div>
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By:&nbsp;</div>
<a href="/author/joe-sager">Joe Sager</a> </div>
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<p><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/sites/default/files/images/Iceburg_header_1.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image-_original " width="525" height="79" /></span></p>
<p><strong><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/sites/default/files/images/Homegrown1.jpg" alt="John Gibson" title="John Gibson" class="image image-_original " width="525" height="413" /><span class="caption" style="width: 523px;">John Gibson</span></span></strong></p>
<p>For many years, western Pennsylvania has been known as the &ldquo;Cradle of Quarterbacks.&rdquo;<br />Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, Joe Namath, Joe Montana and Johnny Unitas are some of the football greats who hail from the Pittsburgh region.</p>
<p>Recently, the area has produced some top hockey talent, notably NHL veterans Ryan Malone and R. J. Umberger, and newcomers J.T. Miller and Brandon Saad.</p>
<p>However, Pittsburgh&rsquo;s &ldquo;Goaltender Generation&rdquo; has burst onto the scene at the college and Junior hockey levels. No Pittsburgh goalie has reached the NHL, but that could change soon.</p>
<p>John Gibson leads the way. The 2011 NHL second-round draft choice of the Anaheim Ducks helped lead Team USA (which had three other Pittsburgh-born players) to gold at the 2013 IIHF World Junior Championship. He was named the tournament&rsquo;s top goaltender and most valuable player.</p>
<p>More recently Gibson was named one of three <strong><span class="inline inline-right"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/sites/default/files/images/Homegrown2.img_assist_custom-280x202.jpg" alt="Parker Milner" title="Parker Milner" class="image image-img_assist_custom-280x202 " width="280" height="202" /><span class="caption" style="width: 278px;">Parker Milner</span></span></strong>goaltenders to play for the U.S. National Team at the IIHF World Championship, joining Mike Richter (1986) and Mike Dunham (1992) as the only U.S. netminders to play in both tournaments in the same year.</p>
<p>&ldquo;John Gibson is an excellent goaltender,&rdquo; said Ron Rolston, who coached Gibson at the National Team Development Program. &ldquo;He has a big upside, big potential. He&rsquo;s big, athletic. He&rsquo;s got a lot of pro potential because of his size and his competitive nature.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Pittsburgh&rsquo;s goaltenders have claimed the 2011 and &rsquo;12 NCAA Div. I national championships. Kenny Reiter backstopped the University of Minnesota-Duluth in 2011, and Parker Milner guided Boston College to last year&rsquo;s title. Mike Martin was on the St. Norbert College squad that captured back-to-back Div. III titles. Rob Madore is now plying his trade in the AHL after a stellar four-year career at Vermont.</p>
<p>Mike Houser, who turned pro with Cincinnati of the ECHL, became the first American to claim the Canadian Hockey League&rsquo;s Goaltender of the Year Award last season with the Ontario Hockey League&rsquo;s London Knights.</p>
<p>This year, five local men &ndash; Jake Hildebrand (Michigan State), Matt Skoff (Penn State), Bryce Merriam (RPI), Greg Lewis (Clarkson) and Milner (BC) &ndash; and two women &ndash; Lindsay Holdcroft (Dartmouth) and Katelyn Pippy (Cornell) &ndash; were starting goaltenders at D-I programs.</p>
<p>So, what&rsquo;s in the water in those Three Rivers? <strong><span class="inline inline-right"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/sites/default/files/images/Homegrown4.img_assist_custom-280x336.jpg" alt="Kenny Reiter" title="Kenny Reiter" class="image image-img_assist_custom-280x336 " width="280" height="336" /><span class="caption" style="width: 278px;">Kenny Reiter</span></span></strong></p>
<p>&ldquo;I think every goaltender that came out of Pittsburgh has been naturally gifted,&rdquo; Hildebrand said. &ldquo;But, you need that person to bring that talent out and that person to make sure you&rsquo;re working hard and doing all the right things, too.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Shane Clifford and Jeremy Hoy are those guys. Clifford is a former minor league goalie and Penguins assistant coach. He runs the Shane Clifford Goalie School. Hoy owns Finish First Sports Performance. Both men have gained national acclaim in their crafts and are sought out by many organizations.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We have a lot of great resources, especially those two guys,&rdquo; Reiter said. &ldquo;All of it compliments each other. Shane understands the position on a different level. He has played the game, and he&rsquo;s worked in the NHL. Jeremy is great at looking at our position and helping us come up with a lot of specific exercises to be prepared to handle how hard the season is on your body.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Clifford, a Cincinnati native, landed in the area in 1997 and began teaching goaltending lessons. Along the way, he&rsquo;s landed goaltending jobs with a variety of college, amateur and professional teams, including a stint with the hometown Penguins.</p>
<p>&ldquo;He taught me everything I know,&rdquo; Hildebrand said. &ldquo;I was incredibly fortunate to start going to him when I was young. He is so specific to detail. He is incredibly talented.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Hoy has experience working as a performance coach at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, N.Y., Duquesne University, Robert Morris University, as well as a variety of other coaching positions at many different levels. He has directed and hosted many summer performance camps and clinics, speed and agility camps and team training programs for sports such as hockey, wrestling, soccer, football, basketball and tennis.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s really refreshing to have someone not only give goalie-specific workouts, but hockey-<br />specific workouts,&rdquo; Milner said. &ldquo;Those are hard enough to find. Someone who is willing to tweak your workouts like that is a great asset for us to have around Pittsburgh.&rdquo;</p>
<p>From wherever they are scattered during the hockey season, the goaltenders look forward to coming back home to see each other, and work out with both Clifford and Hoy.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a cool environment to be around. It makes working out much more tolerable hanging out with friends,&rdquo; Milner said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s great to be around excellence and to be around people as talented or more talented as you are.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/sites/default/files/images/Homegrown3.jpg" alt="Rob Madore" title="Rob Madore" class="image image-_original " width="525" height="285" /><span class="caption" style="width: 523px;">Rob Madore</span></span></strong></p>
<p>The workouts can get pretty competitive (in a positive way) &ndash; and the female goaltenders don&rsquo;t back down, either.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to have a gym like Jeremy&rsquo;s. There are always a lot of hockey players there, but half of them are goaltenders. It&rsquo;s a great place to talk and reconnect,&rdquo; Holdcroft said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I was really lucky to be able to grow up and be surrounded by great goaltenders. These guys are bigger and play at faster level, but really that pushes me. The guys are super welcoming and supportive, but competitive at the same time. There&rsquo;s an important balance that works really well.&rdquo;</p>
<p>This group of goaltenders, which was inspired by Massachusetts native Tom Barrasso and the Penguins&rsquo; 1991 and &rsquo;92 Stanley Cup championship squads, hopes the goaltender pipeline continues.</p>
<p>With the Penguins claiming a Stanley Cup in 2009 and igniting a second hockey boom in the area, that&rsquo;s a very real possibility. They want to do whatever they can to help inspire the next group, too.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I remember how cool it was looking up to the older goalies from the area and getting to work with them at Shane&rsquo;s camps,&rdquo; Milner said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great opportunity for me to be that role model for some of the younger goalies.&rdquo;</p>
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<h5><em>Joe Sager is a freelance writer base in Pittsburgh.</em></h5>
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<h6><em>Photos By Images on Ice; Getty Images (3)</em></h6>
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<h2>Homegrown Goalies</h2>
<p>Western Pennsylvania goaltenders continue to leave their marks in Junior, college and professional ranks. Here is the list:</p>
<h3>MEN</h3>
<p><strong>John Gibson </strong>(2013 WJC championship and MVP with Team USA, Anaheim Ducks 2011 2nd round pick, Kitchener Rangers-OHL)<br /><strong>Kenny Reiter</strong> (2011 NCAA D-I champ at Minnesota Duluth, Bridgeport-AHL)<br /><strong>Parker Milner </strong>(2012 NCAA D-I champ at Boston College)<br /><strong>Mike Houser</strong> (2012 CHL Goalie of the Year, Cincinnati-ECHL)<br /><strong>Rob Madore</strong> (Vermont, Charlotte-AHL)<br /><strong>Jake Hildebrand</strong> (Michigan State)<br /><strong>Matt Skoff</strong> (Penn State)<br /><strong>Bryce Merriam</strong> (RPI)<br /><strong>Greg Lewis</strong> (Clarkson)<br /><strong>Tom Comunale </strong>(UConn)<br /><strong>Mike Martin</strong> (2011, &rsquo;12 NCAA D-III champ, St. Norbert College)<br /><strong>Steve Perry </strong>(NAHL, committed to Clarkson)<br /><strong>Colin DeAugustine</strong> (Penguins Elite, USHL draft pick)<br /><strong>Scott Brown</strong> (AJHL)</p>
<h3>WOMEN</h3>
<p><strong>Lindsay Holdcroft</strong> (Darmouth)<br /><strong>Katelyn Pippy</strong> (Cornell)<br /><strong>Brianne McLaughlin</strong> (2010 U.S. Olympian hails from Sheffield Village, Ohio but played four years at Robert Morris University)</p>
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http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/article/2013-06/steel-city-assembly-line-pittsburghs-homegrown-goalies#commentsGoaliesPittsburghsteel cityFeatureWed, 22 May 2013 21:54:40 +0000admin8672 at http://www.usahockeymagazine.comIce – Burgh: Pittsburgh programs produce great hockey playershttp://www.usahockeymagazine.com/article/2013-06/ice-%E2%80%93-burgh-pittsburgh-programs-produce-great-hockey-players
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The Success Of The Penguins Is Only The Tip Of What’s Happening In The Steel City </div>
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By:&nbsp;</div>
<a href="/node/12">Harry Thompson</a> </div>
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<p><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.net/sites/default/files/images/Iceburg_header_1.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image-_original " width="525" height="79" /></span></p>
<p><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.net/sites/default/files/images/IceBurgh_Skyline.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image-_original " width="525" height="149" /></span></p>
<p>They file out of a locker room and waddle like a bunch of little penguins down the hallway that leads to the frozen expanse at the Island Sports Center in suburban Pittsburgh.</p>
<p>Most are decked out in black or white &ndash; what else would you expect &ndash; Penguins jerseys, many adorned with the number 87 on their backs. Whether they are veterans of the ice or trying the game for the first time, these 4- to 7-year-olds share something in common with their idol, Sidney Crosby. They are all part of the on-ice revolution taking place in the Steel City.</p>
<p>Waiting at center ice is Bob Arturo, the rink&rsquo;s hockey director and a man who boasts that his primary job is to &ldquo;sell fun.&rdquo; Having grown up in the area, Arturo breaks into a big smile when he sees the next generation of Pittsburgh hockey players hit the ice, literally and figuratively.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Every program we have here, from Learn to Skate and Learn to Play to house leagues and adult leagues, our No. 1 priority is making sure the kids have fun,&rdquo; Arturo proudly states.</p>
<p>There&rsquo;s no doubt that these are fun times for everyone involved in hockey in western Pennsylvania. With due respect to Warroad, Minn., and Detroit, the label of Hockeytown may soon be on the move.</p>
<p>The area has always enjoyed a rich tradition of producing some of the best football players the game has ever known, and the Steelers have long dominated the hearts and minds of local sports fans while holding an iron-fist grip on the sports pages and nightly newscasts.</p>
<p><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.net/sites/default/files/images/IceBurgh_Penguins.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image-_original " width="525" height="390" /></span></p>
<p>But hockey in and around Pittsburgh has experienced an unprecedented growth spurt over the past decade. According to local officials, participation at the Mite age group has increased 180 percent, more than 80 percent in Squirts and 44 percent in Peewees since the 2006-07 season.</p>
<p>Local administrators credit a number of factors, from the success of the Penguins, the &ldquo;Crosby effect,&rdquo; his Little Penguins program and the advent of the American Development Model, which has been embraced by local hockey leaders since its inception.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been fortunate over the last 20 years. We went through the Mario Lemieux era, which really helped kick hockey into gear here in western Pennsylvania,&rdquo; says Paul Day, the Mid-American Hockey Association president who has been involved with local hockey for 25 years.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Then, fortunately, seven years ago the little <span class="inline inline-right"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.net/sites/default/files/images/IceBurgh_Youth.img_assist_custom-279x364.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image-img_assist_custom-279x364 " width="279" height="364" /></span>ping pong balls at the NHL draft fell in our favor and Sidney Crosby arrived in Pittsburgh. We&rsquo;re probably looking at having increased our numbers over the last five to six years probably 50 percent again.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Growing the game has been a team effort between the youth hockey community and the Penguins. Take, for instance, Crosby&rsquo;s Little Penguins program. Each year the superstar teams up with Reebok and Dick&rsquo;s Sporting Goods to donate 1,000 complete sets of equipment to beginning players. When the call goes up on the Penguins&rsquo; website, it takes seconds for parents to pounce, and the program quickly sells out.</p>
<p>Soon afterward, youth hockey associations and local rinks leap into action, carving out the ice time for these budding superstars to learn the game and eventually join a league.</p>
<p>&ldquo;You couple that with what we&rsquo;ve been able to do with our Affiliate block grant program, and it&rsquo;s helped us get more players on the ice,&rdquo; Day says. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s what it&rsquo;s all about.&rdquo;</p>
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<h2 class="textlinkblack">&ldquo;Every program we have here, our No. 1 priority is making sure the kids have fun.&rdquo;<br />&mdash; Bob Arturo, Island Sports Center Hockey Director<br /></h2>
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<p>It wasn&rsquo;t like that when Derek Schooley arrived here almost a decade ago. The Penguins were struggling in an aging building and teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. And then, the franchise and the hockey community caught lightning in a bottle when Crosby came to town, and the rest, as they say, is hockey history.</p>
<p>Now a perennial NHL powerhouse, the Penguins are leading the resurgence in the area that includes supporting hockey at all levels.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The Penguins are all about growing hockey, and I commend them for their dedication to the game at all levels. It&rsquo;s all part of their footprint,&rdquo; says Schooley, the head coach of Robert Morris University&rsquo;s Div. I hockey program.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just really taken off to the point where it&rsquo;s taking away from the Steelers a little bit. It&rsquo;s becoming a hockey town instead of a football town.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Ray Shero is not only the general manager of the Penguins, he is also a devoted hockey dad. His oldest son, Christopher, represented the host squad at the 2013 Toyota-USA Hockey Tier I National Championships, while his youngest son, Kyle, was competing with the Pittsburgh Predators in Charlotte, N.C., in the Tier II 14 &amp; Under division.</p>
<p>With all that&rsquo;s happening with the Penguins in the midst of another Stanley Cup run as well as Nationals coming to the Island Sports Center for the second time in four years, the Frozen Four in town a week later, and the All-American Prospects Game heading here in September, it&rsquo;s been a great time to be involved with the game at the local level.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The support from the fans and the community has been outstanding. It says a lot about the people here, how passionate they are about the game of hockey and how well it&rsquo;s grown here,&rdquo; says Shero, who credits his bosses for taking a grass-roots approach to growing their fan base.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It starts with our ownership who are really committed to youth hockey here &hellip; not just financially but through other means as well. Everyone is very passionate about youth hockey here, building it, maintaining it, cultivating it and making it the best that it can be. I think that Pittsburgh is well on its way to doing that.&rdquo;</p>
<p><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.net/sites/default/files/images/IceBurgh_LilPenguins.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image-_original " width="525" height="327" /></span></p>
<p>It only stands to reason as the ranks of players continue to rise, so does the quality. The number of players from around western Pennsylvania who are playing in Junior and collegiate programs continues to grow, as does the number of local kids who have made it to the NHL.</p>
<p>Pittsburgh natives Ryan Malone and R.J. Umberger set the standard and have since been followed by young guns J.T. Miller, Brandon Saad and Christian Hanson. With the continued boom in youth hockey programs in the area, the number of local players competing at the top levels of the game is likely to increase in the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen a lot when it comes to the growth of hockey in the area, and I think it&rsquo;s safe to say that I&rsquo;ve been the beneficiary of the growth simply because more and more players leads to better players,&rdquo; says Chris Stern, who recently wrapped up his 24th season of coaching in the area.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had well over 100 Div. I players come through our organization. The quality of athlete and also the depth, it&rsquo;s unbelievable how it&rsquo;s taken off.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I feel pretty fortunate to be here in this unique time because of all those things. I&rsquo;m glad to be along for the ride.&rdquo;</p>
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<h6><em>Photos By Getty Images; TSS Photography; Pittsburgh Penguins </em><br /></h6>
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http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/article/2013-06/ice-%E2%80%93-burgh-pittsburgh-programs-produce-great-hockey-players#commentsPittsburghPittsburgh Penguinsyouth hockeyFeatureWed, 22 May 2013 21:24:04 +0000admin8667 at http://www.usahockeymagazine.comSaad’s Steel City Roots Form Strong Foundation - Brandon Saad http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/article/2013-06/saad%E2%80%99s-steel-city-roots-form-strong-foundation-brandon-saad
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By:&nbsp;</div>
<a href="/author/justin-felisko">Justin Felisko</a> </div>
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<p><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/sites/default/files/images/FL_Saad.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image-_original " width="525" height="417" /></span></p>
<p>Brandon Saad still remembers the excitement that enveloped his hometown of Pittsburgh when the Penguins made their march towards the Stanley Cup Finals in 2008 with Sidney Crosby and Evengi Malkin leading the charge.</p>
<p>Now 500 miles and five years later, Saad has a front row seat to the same type of enthusiasm blowing through the Windy City as the Chicago Blackhawks are the toast of the town during this lockout-shortended NHL season.</p>
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<p class="textlinkblack"><strong>Position: </strong>Left Wing<strong><br />Shoots: </strong>Left<strong><br />Height: </strong>6-foot-1<strong><br />Weight: </strong>202 pounds<strong><br />Birth Date:</strong><br />Oct. 27, 1992<strong><br />Hometown: </strong>Pittsburgh<strong><br />Drafted: </strong>Selected by Chicago in the second round (43rd overall) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft<strong><br />USA Hockey Experience:</strong> Spent one season (2009-10) with the National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich. A member of the gold-medal winning U.S. Team at the 2010 Under-18 World Championship. Posted six points and a team-high plus-8 rating for Team USA at the 2012 World Junior Championship. <strong><br /></strong></p>
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<p>And the 20-year-old Pittsburgh native has played a pivotal role in the team&rsquo;s success.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been commenting on Sadder&rsquo;s play every game right now,&rdquo; Blackhawks&rsquo; captain Jonathan Toews laughed following another of the Blackhawks&rsquo; league-leading victories.</p>
<p>&ldquo;He is getting better and better, and it&rsquo;s pretty amazing considering his skill level and the age he is at. I can&rsquo;t say enough about his improvement this year, and that&rsquo;s on top of the skill and ability he already has.&rdquo;</p>
<p>With 10 goals and 17 assists, Saad finished among the league leaders in rookie scoring. Of course it helps to have the luxury of playing on the &rsquo;Hawks top line alongside Toews and veteran winger Marian Hossa.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s awesome,&rdquo; said Saad, who was drafted by Chicago in the second round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s always a dream to play in the NHL, but to be this young and to be on the line I&rsquo;m on and the team I&rsquo;m on with the success we are having, it&rsquo;s been a whirlwind.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Listed at 6-foot-1, 202 pounds, Saad brings not only a scoring touch to the lineup but an aggressive style of play. His size and presence have earned him the nickname &ldquo;Man-Child&rdquo; this season from teammates and Saad&rsquo;s physicality on the ice has left his veteran teammates, impressed with the young forward.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We know that when he gets the puck something is going to happen,&rdquo; Toews said. &ldquo;He is not afraid to go against the big bodies in the corners, and even in open ice is not afraid to get hit.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The former member of the National Team Development Program credits his time in Ann Arbor, Mich., with helping him adjust to playing such a short and demanding season following the NHL lockout.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a tough league, and I think throughout my years going to the National Program has obviously prepared me well,&rdquo; Saad said. &ldquo;It was kind of a grind in itself with the amount of workouts you do, but it keeps you prepared on and off the ice. It was huge for my game.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Before making a name for himself in Chicago, Saad was perfecting his craft in the Steel City where he played for the Pittsburgh Hornets as well as his local high school, Pine-Richland.</p>
<p>Saad served as an alternate captain on the 14U Hornets at the 2007 USA Hockey National Championship in Amherst, N.Y.</p>
<p>&ldquo;To go to those tournaments and getting to see other great teams and play against and compete has always been fun to be apart of,&rdquo; said Saad, who led Pine-Richland to the Penguins Cup during his freshman year.</p>
<p>Over the years Pittsburgh has evolved into a top-tier hockey town. After playing this year in Chicago, Saad can see plenty of similarities between the two proud and passionate fan bases.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Hockey is picking up, and it&rsquo;s a good sports town,&rdquo; Saad said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good hockey town, too. It&rsquo;s exciting. It&rsquo;s loud. You can see the improvement coming through with the new arena.&rdquo;</p>
<p>With the Blackhawks and Penguins both finishing on top in their respective conferences, Saad could easily find himself back in Pittsburgh during another Stanley Cup Finals.</p>
<p>Only this time Pittsburgh&rsquo;s favorite son will be standing in the way of another celebration in the Steel City.</p>
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<h6><em>Photos courtesy of Getty Images (2); Walsh family</em></h6>
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<h3><span class="inline inline-left"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/sites/default/files/images/YS_TomWalsh.img_assist_custom-84x112.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image-img_assist_custom-84x112 " width="84" height="112" /></span>Youth Star<br /></h3>
<p><strong>Tom Walsh<br />Age: 15&nbsp; |&nbsp; Newbury, Mass</strong></p>
<p>Tom Walsh comes from a family that has dedicated countless hours to philanthropic work across Massachusetts. After being involved in turkey drives with the Pettengill House in Salisbury, Mass., Walsh was ready, and inspired, to take his volunteer work to the next level.</p>
<p>Walsh combined his love for golf with his passion for community service to create the Pettengill Cup, an annual golf tournament that will take place July 29 at the Ipswich Country Club.</p>
<p>Last year Walsh raised $25,000 for the non-profit social service agency that provides care to at-risk individuals, children and families through education and therapeutic interventions.</p>
<p>But this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this St. John&rsquo;s Prep and U16 Valley Jr. Warrior hockey standout. Not only is Walsh balancing his charity, school and athletic commitments but he is also running three U16 summer tournament teams.</p>
<p>&ldquo;There is no time off for me,&rdquo; Walsh said. &ldquo;A lot of kids are going to parties or hanging out with their friends. My social life has to take a back seat. But I just have to stay determined. I know that it will be for the best in the end.&rdquo;</p>
<p>For more information on the Pettengill Cup, go to <a href="http://pettengillhouse.org" target="_blank">pettengillhouse.org</a>.<br /><strong><br /></strong></p>
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http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/article/2013-06/saad%E2%80%99s-steel-city-roots-form-strong-foundation-brandon-saad#commentsBrandon SaddPittsburghFirst LinersWed, 22 May 2013 20:50:16 +0000admin8662 at http://www.usahockeymagazine.com